It may be a house, but I see no signs of it being a home. It's certainly beautiful, but I feel no warmth, no signs that any humans actually have spent time in this building. Me, I wouldn't want to spend my summers living in a catalog showroom, however beautiful the location may be.

Nice interior. Monstrously ugly exterior. No, you don't get points for deliberately weathering new materials to get that eighty-year-old neglected look for the sake of "authenticity".

And the location seems to have been selected for its breath-taking vistas. Actually living in that exposed hilltop moor during the long winters of Nova Scotia is going to be an exercise in exposure and massive heating bills.

I don't mind clean lines and modern design elements, but a house like that needs some comfy furniture to curl up in. There is nothing in that house that looks good enough to sit in. Nothing! Even the beds look uncomfortable.

Looks pleasant enough. I wonder how the windows will look at night, as I see no window treatments. All those black panes of glass might be a bit, um, soul deadening? Of course, there's not much night in Nova Scotia in the summer; guess they won't be visiting the rest of the year.

MitchH, that weathering is pretty common in New England and the Maritimes. If you put raw cedar it will weather in about a year and a half to uniform gray. But most people do use the stain to speed the process up and it might add a few years to the process.

Which reminds me. I was checking out a home of a friend of mine in Cape May County. It was an old 1780s farmhouse and had a cedar shake roof. When you went in the attic during the summer, streams of sunlight were going through the shakes. The rafters were country hewn beams supporting what looked like basket weaved twigs of swamp virginia magnolia (witht he shakes attached to those twigs). But when a storm came, the shafts of sunlight would close just before the rain came. The cedar would suck up the moisture of the storm and the shakes would swell. Coolest thing I have ever seen with an old house. Just amazing.

And really? Using a black adopted child as an accent for pastel color schemes? An amateur's mistake. The pale, supple glow of a Chinese child would have lent a more subtle balance to the chosen color profile without clashing with those horrifying endtables.

I think they're just trying to showcase how wealthy they are. $16,000 for dining room chairs? $750 for a desk lamp? Surely they could have put that money towards more charitable use, and just buy furniture from Ikea.

I don't like it but the site is great for a different house. It would need thick insulated walls and smaller windows. I would probably build it into the land with only one story above ground and cutaways for windows for the lower floor. That house will get blown away before next summer.

We always said that Bretoners were just Newfs who ran out of money on their way to Toronto. Don't know about that particular area, but historically that's a poor, coal-mining area - think W. Virginia and damned-near as inbred. I hope the locals aren't priced out of their homes by rich hipsters.

My recollection from my one drive through the area is that most of the houses are either trailers or the sort of ranch houses that might as well be trailers. If they can stand the winters, this one should be able to. It probably looks homier and more lived-in when there aren't NYT photographers hanging around.

"We always said that Bretoners were just Newfs who ran out of money on their way to Toronto. Don't know about that particular area, but historically that's a poor, coal-mining area - think W. Virginia and damned-near as inbred. I hope the locals aren't priced out of their homes by rich hipsters."

I hope shit doesn't go south while Eliot and Alexandra are up there one winter. They're going to find their $350,000 house full of uninvited guests looking for some rich outsiders to plunder.

Why am I willing to bet that the owners of this $300,000+ dwelling, to be used only for a small part of the year, have regularly lectured others on the plight of the poor and the abuse we humans have inflicted on the environment?

No bookshelves. No television. Absurd existentialist tchotchkes. What do they do all day -- strike poses for photographers?

The bathroom appears to lack a commode. That might be inconvenient.

I love maps. The fact that they are of recent vintage erather than "old and weathered" to match the rst of the decor doesn't bother me in the least. But four maps of the same area? In cheap white plastic edging that allows them to warp? In a hallway so narrow that you can't stand back and apprehend the entire map? Bah. These are maps that were put on the walls to make a single statement: "Look! We have maps!"

Where do you park your boat?

Carol has a point. Even in summer, it rains in Nova Scotia. But we're shown only a long, narrow exposed walkway to the house. Here in the PNW, we're smart enough to build houses with attached garages.

I suspect that if I had to spend a day in the house with its owners, after only three or four hours I'd be telling them that they'd be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.

My guess is that our dear homeowners never bothered to check on how often that parcel of land has flooded during that last 100 years, or if they are land locked during winter due to 12 feet of snow. If I were an insurance exec there is no way I would write a policy against this property. But then again I am not an insurance exec.

“Our land is in a prominent place, the highest point around,” said Ms. Angle, who imagined their new neighbors thinking, “Oh, my God, these people fly in from L.A. and throw up this huge steel-and-glass house, or this 50-foot-tall church.”

She imagined what their neighbors would think. Even though they've spent threee summers there, I'd be willing to bet that they don't talk with their neighbors.

You may be right, it is on a hill afterall but flooding doesn't have to submerge the property directly to do damage, it could effect the parcel itself from erosion, etc. For their sake I hope you are right.

Also on the cost of the property my guess is that utility runs in this area are very expensive (I didn't read the article) but I assume they have electric, gas, water, etc and there would be no existing runs that they could tap into.

I think it's nice that they have kept some of granma's furniture. Speaks well of them. The chandeliers, though, are particularly awful, and that house really has to be a nightmare to dust. Maybe the wind blows it away?

Now, the "work table" is phony. What's that twee junk on it? I say: not sterile *enough.* But look at the wall. See the cable outlet and the phone outlet. Electronic stuff like TVs and computers go there. Not a flower press and whatever the hell. When the photographers are gone there will be time enough for TV shows and internet.

Being a loner that has lived in the country for years...I get the isolation and beauty surrounding.

I don't get it $350,000 worth.

Now, I know a man down the road and back in the woods a bit, that planted seedlings from the county with his dad, when he was a boy, over 70 years ago. He lived on that land his whole life. About 10 yrs ago he cut down the 50-60ft pines, seasoned, planed and prepped the logs all by himself at 68 yrs old. He invented a log lifting machine in my farm shop (works on my farm for me) and built himself a lovely log cabin with those trees.

It's simple, it's got over 12 types of wood used in it, and all grown by him on his boyhood home land. He's snug as a bug in that cabin, surrounded by the gifts of god produced by his stewardship.

A house as stark as the landscape it's in. Their house reminds me of a museum--nice to look at but who would want to live there? The only thing I really liked was the battered old wooden chair in the kid's room.

I hope whatever is in the 10 degree field of view of that telescope is really interesting. Maybe a particularly fascinating galaxy? Nudist neighbors? This family is so stale and boring they probably spend hours looking at lichen growing on rocks. Jerks.

I agree entirely with the commenter who said this profile is just a showcase of wealth--and I'll add vanity. $2,000 PER CHAIR! You can bet your bottom dollar if I spend $2,000 on something to sit on he'd better give an awesome massage.

Ann, this place may appeal to those whose aesthetic sensibilities have been finely honed by thumbing through dozens of Pottery Barn catalogs, but it is decidedly impersonal. It is a staged, trophy house, not a well-loved and well-used home. The objects are mostly for show, not for use. All I can gather about the occupants is they like to frequent antique shops.

Regarding its location in a remote part of one of the least-populated sections of North America, what comes to my mind is "Here's Johnny!" and "redrum".

BUT, luckily these hip urbanists only spend a few weeks in the summer there. Definitely it's their second home as there is NO industry/commercial activity to support a $350K mortgage in Cape Breton. No doubt a couple of global warming alarmists to boot who have no problem owning 2 homes and jetting to warmer climes in the winter.

I don't like the house at all. Judging from the width of the 2nd story windows in the first shot, there isn't enough insulation in the rafters (despite the house being in Nova Scotia!). Also the eves should be wider to cut down on summer sunlight while still letting in the low winter sun.

The dining room is too stark and unwelcoming, and the painted Queen Anne arm chair made me gag.

Those Foglia chairs would probably collapse under me, but I suppose that's my fault more than theirs.

The night stand in the master bed is altogether too precious, and the child's room doesn't look like a place where a kid can have fun.

Damn. I love the building; I hate what they've done with it. If it were mine it would have more rugs, more comfy chairs, and about fifteen hundred times more books. (Wait  was there even one book? Make that "at least four thousand books." And my 8000 or so classical CDs need space too. Sorry for all the clutter.)

I only hope the lovely roar of Harleys wafts up the hillside in July and August when droves of bikers descend on the Cabot Trail.

If you've never been to Nova Scotia, especially Cape Breton N.P., it's freaking LONELY. Also no sushi bars or organic bakeries to be found, and the only restaurants around close up early. It's pretty enough there, but damn it's desolate. Visiting there gave me new appreciation for the early settlers who actually stayed there instead of hightailing it back to Europe. Those folks had balls.

That house would be hell to live in. These people strike me as being very shallow and overly concerned with how things look. There isn't a comfortable chair in the place. The nightstand is already overladen and it is the only spot in the house that shows signs of having been used. There is not a work triangle in the kitchen meaning your labor will be maximized. The large windows are impractical and will leak heat like a mother. The building is completely exposed to the wind and elements. In short it was built by someone with more money than sense. I am building a one level, all brick house that is several times that size in TN and will not spend what that place cost.

I think the exterior is lovely though. A Times photographer can do wonders for a place.

And EDH is right, it looks like the child was chosen as just another accessory. I think we need lots more mixed families but as carefully as these people choreograph everything I get a really creepy vibe from the whole thing. Was he just another catalog selection?

It reminds me of a Tim Burton film. I bet this couple suffers from some very deep seated pathologies. Their opposite would be the hoarders you see on TV but a neatness obsession, while just as debilitating to live with, doesn't draw the scrutiny of the police or mental health professionals as easily.

Can you imagine a child having to live in such an environment? They probably have the tyke scrubbing the bathroom floor with a toothbrush.

Oh, and there is not a chance in hell the owners of this house voted Republican. Anyone who values style over substance to this extent would go with Obama. For the type of people who like these sorts of places it really is a matter of the crease of his pants.

george said Oh, and there is not a chance in hell the owners of this house voted Republican.

Agreed. At least now they have a place to immigrate to when the next Republican occupies the White House.

I do commend them for adopting a baby girl, though. I am pretty horrified how baby girls are so unwanted in other parts of the world, especially China and India. Good on them for that. Now get her a toy she'd actually play with!

Like if Bergman did "The Tempest" with modernist anomie, trading out the "Cries and Whispers" reds for sea-green pastels.

I love the living room, except the "octopus" "chandelier"--maybe it would grow on me, but right now it reminds me of the fleeing head in John Carpenter's "The Thing".

There were plenty of books, I think, in that giant bedding unit against the windows.

I thought the rugs looked like maps, whic I liked; and then the narrow hallway had actual maps. But, as Coketown points out, they are too NGie. I love contemporary maps too, but they should've had something in more sedate matte colors, like the pages of the Rand McNally "Classic World Atlas."

Maybe they're shallow people, but this is a photo shoot. A lot of it has a beaten quality (however faked) that I appreciate. Lots of stark Northern light, with allowances for softening blues (and incandescent bulbs).

As I looked at it, I wondered, does that woman even allow that man to live in this house? There's no shower in the bathroom; she says she loves -- what about him?

Sure enough--the shower is outside! The poor man has to leave the house to clean up.

In the article he says:

“Sure, the weather makes it a little challenging to use at times,” he said, noting that 100-mile-an-hour winds and driving rain are not unheard of here, even in the summer. “But the romantic rusticator in me sticks with it.”

Also, as I read the article that goes with it, this is a clearly a summer house. And, yes, they spent nearly a million dollars on the house and the land.

Lovely. As several have pointed out, the owners are from LA, and it's a summer cottage. What could be more lovely, cooler, less stressful, quiet, calm, grand, serene, sublime, restful? Nova Scotia (New Scotland) on the sea in the summer. Heaven. Just what an Angelino/a in their right mind with a heavy pocketbook and no or few bad habits would want. Scotland! New Scotland! How do I love thee!

The kitchen is built for short people--even the frig is under the counter. If they paid $450,000 for the lot, chances are there are other rich people nearby who will feed them after they sprain their backs.

In Nova Scotia, I imagine summer heat gain through the windows is a good thing.

I like the orange color in the office and the green master bedroom.

I wonder if the rippled floors were intentional. My contractor made the sanders wait several days to avoid that.

It would be much more appealing to me if they used the blue-gray exterior trim color for the interior trim, too. I've come to dislike stark white trim, maybe because realtors and decorators like it so much.

I've studied those photographs, and I've come to the well-considered conclusion that their house has absolutely atrocious feng shui.

Fortunately for the Angles, I'm willing to make available the services and expertise of my associate The Crack MC and myself in conducting a thorough analysis and rectification of their abode, to balance their qi amidst the cosmic conflict of wind and water to which they have exposed themselves. It won't be a trivial task to realign the cottage with the area's geomagnetically induced currents, especially since the island is located so near the north geomagnetic pole, but I'm confident we can alter the polarities of the wu xing and harmonize the yin and yang force fields -- even if it ultimately requires us to reorient the structure on its foundations.

We can do it. We're just that good. It may not be an inexpensive undertaking, but we're worth it. We can absolutely guarantee that positive qi will flow through the house, that the cosmic energies will be in balance, and that any and all demons will henceforth be driven from their property.